A social justice group in Texas sent a letter to white Democrats in wealthy neighborhoods asking them to promise their children will not apply to the nation’s top universities so that Black and minority students instead can earn those spots.
Recently formed, Dallas Justice Now wants white allies of the Black Lives Matter movement to take drastic measures to make “sacrifices to correct centuries of injustice.” The activist group commits to ending institutional racism and creating opportunities for the Black community “in the segregated city of Dallas.”
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The group’s college pledge asks wealthy white residents in two high-income Texas neighborhoods to not send children to Ivy League schools “and instead leave those spots open for students from Black, LatinX, and other marginalized backgrounds who were denied access to these institutions for hundreds of years.”
“As a white person with privilege both from my whiteness and my neighborhood I recognize the need to make sacrifices for the purpose of correcting hundreds of years of murder, slavery, discrimination, and lack of educational and economic opportunities perpetrated upon people of color,” the pledge reads. “I understand that access to top schools is a key component in economic and social advancement.”
Minority admissions are low at elite universities, although they have increased in the last year, driven partly by a surge in applications and the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. For example, Black, Hispanic, and Asian student applications to Harvard University and M.I.T. increased exponentially, 43 and 66 percent, respectively.
Overall, representation is still low. At Harvard, a mere 6% of students are Black, according to publicly available data.
In a press release, Dallas Justice Now said it sent the requests to the “95 percent white Highland Park and University Park neighborhoods.” The most recently available Census Bureau data shows Black people make up roughly 1% of both communities’ populations. In addition, both neighborhoods have median incomes above $200,000.
It is unclear how the group identified registered white Democrats in the two neighborhoods. Organizers have also asked people to sign in person. The advocacy group has threatened to name people who do not sign the pledge publicly.
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